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The Hebrew Heritage of Blacks in America


Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living Elohim. Then shall the children of Judah andthe children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel -- Hosea 1:10-11

Often times we hear that no one knows what Biblical Israelites looked like, but the Israelites themselves knew what they looked like. King Solomon wrote in Song of Solomon 1:5, 6:

I am Black , but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

The definitions of the word black are "black" or "blackish". These words have nothing to do with shame, mourning or disgust. In fact, Solomon was describing his physical appearance here. Also, he compares himself to the curtains of Kedar, which is defined as "mourn, black, dark, blackish, darkened, heavily. The word “comely” means "beautiful" or "seemly."

In contrast, some scholars use the following to validate the claim that Yahweh, Yahshua (Jesus) and all Israelites are white: as seen in Song of Solomon 5:10, 11

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

In this scripture, white means "dazzling, glowing, clear, and bright". It clearly does not refer to skin color, it makes mention of His ‘glory’. Rev 1:14, 15 describes the Son of Man in this manner:

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

To go along with that Daniel 7:9 describes Yahweh in the following:

Dan 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

There is no mention of skin color as such, but His hair is described as pure wool, which in Hebrew means woolen or shaggy. Compare the appearance of lamb's wool to untreated black hair. There is more than a casual resemblance to our type of hair in the description.

Leprosy, a skin disorder that changes the coloration of skin, is described in Leviticus 13:29-37.

29 If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard; 30 Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard. 31 And if the priest look on the plague of the scall, and, behold, it be not in sight deeper than the skin, and that there is no black hair in it; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague of the scall seven days: 32 And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the plague: and, behold, if the scall spread not, and there be in it no yellow hair, and the scall be not in sight deeper than the skin; 33 He shall be shaven, but the scall shall he not shave; and the priest shall shut up him that hath the scall seven days more: 34 And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall: and, behold, if the scall be not spread in the skin, nor be in sight deeper than the skin; then the priest shall pronounce him clean: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. 35 But if the scall spread much in the skin after his cleansing; 36 Then the priest shall look on him: and, behold, if the scall be spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for yellow hair; he is unclean. 37 But if the scall be in his sight at a stay, and that there is black hair grown up therein; the scall is healed, he is clean: and the priest shall pronounce him clean.

Take note that in verse 30, the scripture describes the hair affected by the leprosy as yellow and thin. That is what is normally referred to as blond.

In Exodus 4:6, 7 Elohim instructed Moses to perform certain miracles in the presence of Pharaoh as a means of proving he had indeed been sent by Elohim to free the Hebrew slaves. This is but one:

And Yahweh said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.

Where is the miracle in Yahweh turning white skin white? Again, the scriptures here don’t expressly say his skin was black, but we definitely know Moses was not white. On occasion Yahweh would curse people with leprosy, as we see in Numbers 12:6-10 when Miraim came against Moses.

And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I Yahweh will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of Yahweh shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

Again, where is the spectacle is someone white when she is already white? This does not fit well with the information we have been given for generations.

In 2 Kings 5: 25-27, Elisha permanently curses his servant Gehazi with leprosy.

But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said unto him, Whence comest thou, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went no whither. And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants? The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

There is nothing remarkable about a white person being turned white.

After Yahweh delivered Israel out of Egypt, He promised His people blessing and curses that depended their allegiance to Him. Let's look at Deut. 28:45-68 for some specific curses.

45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of Yahweh thy Elohim, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: 46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.47 Because thou servedst not Yahweh thy Elohim with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which Yahweh shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. 49 Yahweh shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:51 And he shall eat the fruit of thy attle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. 52 And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which Yahweh thy Elohim hath given thee.53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which Yahweh thy Elohim hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:54 So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave:55 So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. 56 The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,57 And toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.58 If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, Yahweh thy Elohim; 59 Then Yahweh will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.60 Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will Yahweh bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. 62 And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of Yahweh thy Elohim. 63 And it shall come to pass, that as Yahweh rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so Yahweh will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. 64 And Yahweh shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. 65 And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but Yahweh shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:66 And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:67 In the morning thou shalt say, Would Elohim it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would Elohim it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see. 68 And Yahweh shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

So where are the people Yahweh spoke to in this scripture? We can find out who they are and who they are not through history and the Holy Word of Elohim. We will start in the book of Genesis and follow the sons of Noah for answer to this question.

Gen. 6:10 And Noah begat (8686) three sons , Shem , Ham , and Japheth .

A few things that should be noted in this passage, generally speaking, sons are listed in birth order. Based on this fact, it is to be understood that Shem is the eldest son, followed by Ham, and Japheth is the youngest of Noah's three sons. Please bear this in mind as we read the next passage.

Gen. 9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed be El Shaddai of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 Elohim shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

We have to examine this passage, because there is really bad doctrine taught around the world, and it hinges on this passage. When sobered from his wine, he called out the name of his grandson Canaan. What is interesting is that people believe that Ham did something shameful to his father, and this is why Canaan was cursed. However, simply reading the Scriptures as rendered, there is nothing that would cause one to draw that conclusion. Since that is not possible, let us consider what is available in this passage.

There are a few key words in this passage to which we should pay special attention. The word uncovered is galah, which is usually used to convey shameful sexual acts. As in the case of Reuben, Jacob cursed the one that committed the act, not his son (Read Genesis 35:22 & Genesis 49:3). The same applies here. Next, we have younger son, which means grandson, as we see illustrated by whom the curse was laid upon. Last we have enlarge (pathah) means "deceive, entice, silly, or pursuade". So when you put all these word meanings in the proper context, you get a completely different understanding of what happened altogether.

Canaan was cursed because he in all likelihood committed some type of sexual act on his drunken grandfather. Many teach that Ham did the dirty deed and that his descendants paid the price for his unrighteousness. There are two major flaws with this belief. The first problem with that teaching is that Ham is never mentioned; Noah calls Canaan by name and pronounces the curse upon him. So then how could the curse be upon Ham? This is the question all Black folks should ask themselves. There is no Biblical evidence for that belief.

As to the source of this belief, we can turn to the pages of Western Civilization to find the answer. Consider this quote from A History of Western Society, Fourth Edition:

Settlers brought to the Americas the racial attitudes they had absorbed in Europe. Settlers' beliefs and attitudes toward blacks derived from two basic sources: Christian theological speculation and Muslim ideas. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the English, for example, were extremely curious about Africans' lives and customs, and slavers' accounts were extraordinarily popular. Travel literature depicted Africans as savages because of their eating habits, morals, clothing and social customs; as barbarians because of their language and methods of war; and as heathens because they were not Christian. English people saw similarities between apes and Africans; thus the terms bestial and beastly were frequently applied to Africans. Africans were believed to possess a potent sexuality. One seventeenth-century observer considered Africans "very lustful and impudent, (for a Negroes hiding his members, their extraordinary greatness) is a token of their lust." African women were considered sexually aggressive with a "temper hot and lascivious."

Sadly for displaced Israelites, this kind of thinking has shaped the society around us, and remained fixed in the psyche of most of the people around us. It is no wonder the salve masters showed no compunction in their treatment of our ancestors. For a fuller analysis of this topic, please read The True Meaning of Canaan's Curse, written by Wesley Webster.

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